Kenyan women restore track pride

Kenyan women strode to the 1,500m and 10,000m Commonwealth Games titles on Friday as Amantle Montsho won Botswana's first-ever gold medal.

European champion Andy Turner, meanwhile, led an English clean sweep of the men's 110m hurdles.

Kenya came to New Delhi with a strong middle and long distance team and after its men failed to land the 5,000m title, its women were determined to reassert their dominance.

Olympic 1,500m champion Nancy Langat led the way, breezing to the title in a new Games record time of 4:05.26 ahead of New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin and Scotland's Stephanie Twell.

With Kenyan world champion Linet Masai opting out of the Games, her compatriot Grace Momanyi took the 10,000m gold in 32:34.11, narrowly ahead of team-mate Doris Changeywo.

But the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for India's Kavita Raut, who claimed an impressive third.

Turner led an English clean sweep of the hurdles, crossing in 13.38 ahead of compatriots William Sharman and Lawrence Clarke.

While the time was short of Colin Jackson's 13.08 Commonwealth record, it capped a memorable season for Turner whose career scaled new heights with the Commonwealth crown going with the European championship gold he won in Spain.

"I so wanted that gold medal after Barcelona," he said.

"I wanted to do the double so bad, what a way to finish the season. I want to get in the mix at the world championships next year now."

With English Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogo missing from the women's 400m, along with Jamaica's world-class trio of Shericka Simpson, Novlene Williams-Mills and Kaliese Spencer, the race was there for the taking.

It was Botswana's Montsho who stepped up, smashing the Games record on her way to crossing in 50.10 seconds for her country's first ever Commonwealth gold.